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I love hot dogs. I love brats. As a teenager and young adult- I heard “there’s all types of animal parts in there”. Never doing the research- I just ignored that little piece in the back of my mind- while enjoying a Sonic dog…

Now- in the process of our 30 day vegan challenge and in wanting to learn as much as I can about what is going in my body– I have done a bit of research on Hot Dogs. Here is what I have learned (from a completely unbiased standpoint):

Hotdogs are NOT made of dog (I knew that already- I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention)

Most hot dogs are made of a combination of meat (depending what kind of hot dog you get- pork, beef, chicken or turkey), meat fat, cereal filler (bread crumbs, flour, or oatmeal), egg white, and herbs/seasonings. Then the ingredients are grinded together and stuffed into sausage casings and then pre-cooked.

Casings used to be made out of sheep intestines (and still are in some homemade or small farm recipes)- but now most of the hot dogs sold in stores use a synthetic cellulose casings.

Controversial debate surrounds the creation of the hot dog. Frankfurt, Germany credits itself for the origin of the first frankfurter in 1852- but some argue that Johann Georghehner, a butcher from Coburg, Germany created the first frankfurter in the 1600s.

‘Variety Meats’ may be used in a hotdog – which includes things like liver, kidneys and hearts – but the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that they be disclosed on the ingredient label as ‘with variety meats’ or ‘with meat by-products’.

Also watch out for statements like ‘made with mechanically separated meats (MSM)’ which is a paste-like and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue. Hot dogs can contain no more than 20% of mechanically separated pork, NO sparated beef (due to fear of Mad Cow), but any amount of chicken or turkey.

An unopened, packaged hot dog can have listeriosis bacteria- so it is safer to heat them even though they are pre-cooked.

The worlds longest hot dog created was 197 ft, which rested within a 198 ft bun. The hot dog was prepared by Shizuoka Meat Producers for the All-Japan Bread Association, which baked the bun and coordinated the event, including official measurement for the world record. The hot dog and bun were the center of a media event in celebration of the Association’s 50th anniversary on August 4, 2006, at the Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.

The world’s most expensive hot dog was prepared by Joe Calderone for Trudy Tant. Featuring truffle oil, duck foie gras, and truffle butter, the dog sold for $69.